In the book Feed, by M.T. Anderson, many of the words used aren’t in the dictionary because they are a made up slang used by the characters. Other than this made up way of speaking, the vocabulary used isn’t very difficult. This new way of speaking, though, exists throughout the text and can make it difficult to understand at times. Because of the nature of the language used in this book, this dictionary includes difficult words that can be found in a dictionary, but also other words that are a part of this made up slang. Using context clues, the meaning of the words have been translated into modern day English.
bonesprocket
(noun) a person who doesn’t actively participate in social activities and who’s mood, personality, or attitude discourages other people’s fun -synonym- party pooper, killjoy, wet blanket
-antonym- celebrator, life of the party
Ex. “And then they would be all big laughing and I felt like a complete bonesprocket for trying to sleep when there was fun.” (page 6)
brag
(adjective) great, good, excellent, awesome -synonym- pleasing, super, stupendous, superb
-antonym- bad, unpleasant
Ex. “It was brag because she didn’t have a ride, and I could borrow my parents’ upcar, so I got to fly over and pick her up.” (page 78)
fugue
(noun or adjective) straying away from moderation, excess -synonym- going into overload, overabundance
-antonym- moderate
Ex. “When we got off the ship our feeds were going fugue with all the banners.” (page 8)
limp
(adjective) something that is socially unacceptable -synonym- pitiful, pathetic, inexcusable
-antonym- cool, acceptable
Ex. “I think it’s always really limp, when guys can’t talk to girls they went out with.” (page 12)
mal
(noun) slang for malfunction; failure to function properly -synonym- breakdown,mechanical flaw, problem
-antonym- perfection, working, no problems
Ex. “I didn’t want to be sleepy and like all stupid, but I had been drinkingpretty hard the night before and had been in mal and I was feeling kind of like shit.” (page 6)
meg
(adjective) in a high degree -synonym- exceedingly, very, really
-antonym- little, mildly, moderately
Ex. “That’s great. I think she’s meg nice.” (page 83)
“Like big thanks to everyone for telling me that my lesion is like megcompletely spreading.” (page 21)
null
(adjective) drowsy, overcome by tiredness -synonym- dull, sluggish, drowsy, lethargic
-antonym- animated, awake, energetic
Ex. “…. And when we’re going hard I get real sleepy real easy, and I didn’t want to be null for the unettes on the moon, at the hotel, if any of them were youch.” (page 5)
skip
(adjective) entirely without any flaws or shortcomings -synonym- ideal, great, amazing, perfect
-antonym- imperfect, flawed,inferior
Ex. “It was the beginning of a great day, one of the greatest days of my life…. Everyone was smiling and it was skip.” (page 57)
smarm
(adjective) without the expression of actual emotion; disingenuous -synonym- insincere, fake, false, untruthful
-antonym-honest, sincere, forthright, genuine
Ex. “I kept thinking of nice things I could say, like, “I’m glad you went out last night, because that’s how I met you,” or, “And I think you are a normal person,” but they all seemed just smarm.
10.youch (adjective) visually pleasing or attractive; good looking -synonym- stunning, sexy, gorgeous
-antonym- ugly, unappealing Ex. “…. And when we’re going hard I get real sleepy real easy, and I didn’t want to be null for the unettes on the moon, at the hotel, if any of them were youch.” (page 5)
Background Information about the Setting and Concepts Presented in the Text
M.T. Anderson’s book, Feed, is set in the future, although it never specifies how far into the future it is. In this future world that he has created, Anderson demonstrates how people have advanced significantly in the field of technology, but also how they may have gotten too advanced for their own good.
Where in today’s society, we own cars and drive on roads, in Titus’ society, they own “upcars,” which are basically flying cars that are flown through tubes. Instead of going by the natural weather and rising and setting of the sun like we do, this future generation makes their own weather. Individual houses or entire neighborhoods are enclosed in huge bubbles, and the people control the “sunlight” and when it rains. So, when it is time for Titus’ family to go to bed, his parents “turn out the sun.” Teenagers today typically go to the park or the mall to have fun, but Titus and his friends flew to the moon to have fun when they were bored. The moon is like another city in this world, because there are restaurants, hotels, and clubs with artificial gravity, so people can hang out there without floating away. Books, magazines, and words in general are not common at all in Titus’ world. In today’s world, we raise animals for meat. In the time period of Feed, they directly grow meat. For example, Titus and Violet visited a filet mignon farm, where the meat stretches for miles with blood being pumped to it. The relationship between parents and children has also seemed to change in Feed. Titus’ father calls him “dude,” and kids seem to be less obligated to show politeness to their parents.
A main piece of the novel, Feed, is the actual Feed device. It is a chip that is implanted directly into peoples’ brains shortly after birth. Thinking about something like that today is a scary thought, but in the text, everyone has it and whoever doesn’t, wants it. The Feed is a person’s access to everything. It is like an interactive computer in your brain. Whatever you think about: a car, a new shirt, the latest music, it tells you how to get it. You can shop online using just your brain, chat with people without saying anything, send voice messages, watch TV or movies, and even share memories that you’ve stored. The Feed also gives people updates on the very latest trends, right as they become popular.
One of the concepts M.T. Anderson appears to be trying to get across is the fact that, because of human activity, the world is dying. People in the book have started developing lesions on their skin, losing hair, and towards the end, even stopping dead in their tracks uncontrollably. The oceans have become so polluted that, to go there, Titus and Violet had to wear suits and whales are “laminated” so that they can live there. The ocean reflects with the colors like spilled gasoline in a parking lot. Anderson tells us this message that the world is coming to an end most clearly through Violet: “Do you know why the Global Alliance is pointing all the weaponry disposal at us? No. Hardly anyone does. Do you know why our skin is falling off? Have you heard that some suburbs have been lost, just, no one knows where they are anymore? No one can find them? No one knows what’s happened? Do you know the earth is dead? Almost nothing lives here anymore, except where we plant it? No. No, no, no. We don’t know any of that. We have tea parties with our teddies. We go sledding. We enjoy being young. We take what’s coming to us. That’s our way.” In Feed, Violet and her father are the only characters that really understand what is happening to the world and care. Titus and his friends are the average teenagers who don’t really see what’s happening, or just don’t really care. One of the concepts demonstrated in the text was this idea that, generally, teens tend to look just at their world, and if everything works for them, the world is fine. Anderson seems to want to tell young adults to open their eyes and realize that there is more to the world than their piece of it.
I don't really know if this is how i should present this, I was thinking maybe if I could make a drawing of like a house with the whole bubble thing around it and tubes coming out of it with an upcar or somehting?
Hey! Okayy, so here's an idea that me and aurora had thought of... as we work on our own individual parts of the project, we should post them up here. And then, we can like peer edit sortaa. So as we post stuff up, we all can read eachothers stuff and edit using red. So for example if i wrote whats below everyone can go thru and edit what they think using red, just dont delete any of the persons original writing!!! Heres an example...
"My favorite color is green. I like it because it reminds me of nature, and (and not needed) grass, and trees, which I love. Green makes me feel relaxed and at ease with what is around me.I like red. Red is nice too. (Red is a favorite color of mine as well.) It reminds me of fire and heat. It is an intense color. It makes me think of love."
So that is just an example. My thought behind this tho was that maybe if everything is already edited before it is due, when we go to put the binder together for the final project, it will go much quicker since we already know that what was written we all approve of it. So yeaa if you have any more thoughts just post 'em up!!!
Editing- red!!!
Aurora- purple!!! Linnea- teal!!! Sami- hot pink!!! Vicky- green!!!
Heyy!!! so I had some ideas for discussions and some question sort of things if we happpen to have time in class....
1) What are some current "issues" that are in our society today that are also present in the book? I think some current issues in our society that are brought up in the book is how technology is kind of "taking over." Everything pretty much depends on technology for teenagers. Another issue is how the teenagers don't seem to care much about anything in the book, and this might be a problem in our society too. Some kids don't care about school and just want to hangout and party instead. This is becoming an increasing thing for kids now, and it affects how they do in their future. The book may be some sort of "fictional future" that the author is saying probably won't end up happening but could end up happening based on events going on today. This is just what i got out of the book, and how it could relate to real life issues. Some current issues that are in our society today that are also present in the book, are how kids go out and party like they do today, but in this book, because it takes place in the future, it just becomes more daily. The teenagers rely on technology and on having fun all the time, and they get used to not doing much of anything, which seems to be a problem in our society sometimes. Doing things for yourself is becoming less common like it is in the book.
I think one of the ideas the author was trying to emphasize was the idea that society is starting to become more and more accepting of language and behavior that was once considered inappropriate, (like the music we listen to today that our parents are shocked by). It also seems like the kids in the book are less close with their families and more into hanging out with their friends. That seems to concern some parents today as well. 2) Do you think that the author was realistic about the book or do you think he was too pessimistic? I think that the author was being realistic about the book even though he made it a little more pessimistic then he had to; M.T. Anderson exaggerated a little in the book, but it was just to clearly show the issues that were present in this book. In Feed, teenagers didn't really have any education, they went out to party a lot, and they didn't think for themselves, because they had the "feed" (information at their fingertips) right at their reach, so they didn't need to know how to think. This relates to present day issues because teenagers tend to be more lazy then they should, and they don't really think for themselves as much as they should. The internet is a big part of teen's lives, which is like the "feed", so M.T. Anderson just exaggerated this issue a little bit so it would stick out more in readers minds so they can comprehend what he is trying to say to readers. He writes in a way that'll hopefully make the world want to think for themselves, and be educated, and not have to always rely on the internet or "feeds" for everything.
3) What connections can be made between life today and this book? Bczz I was thinking that maybe we include some of these real life connections in our presentations... it might make it more interesting for the class to listen to then
alsooo maybe we could have some sort of interactive portion involved in our presentation, just to keep the audience ingaged and not totally bored to death... idkk just an idea, post up any thoughts you might have tho, especiallly about the presentation... Maybe for the presentation..since we found one video that's about 6 minutes long, maybe we could find some sort of video that isn't necassarily about the book, but can be connected to it? Just to use some extra time that we might need and to make it more interesting.. Because i looked for another short video and only found a few "book trailers" that weren't very intresting. So idk it was just a thought if we couldn't use anything else..
If we do like a brief summary before the video and then show the video (so they aren't so confused by it), it'll use up more time. We could always explain each piece of the project and that would probably use up the rest of the time. If it doesn't though, we can write down a few of those short clips or something so that we have a backup plan to use the extra time.
Literary elements:
Metaphors: page 62- "It's like..," I said. "It's like a squid in the love with the sky" page 63- "I felt her spine too, each knuckle of it, with my fingers, while the air leaked and the plants whacked each other near the silent stars.
Similies: page 70- "It came down on us like water. It came down like spring rains and we were dancing in it."
Imagery: page 221- Quendy nodded. She still had lesions all over her. When she moved her head, I could see a lesion on her neck open and close like a fish mouth singing a country song. page 293- I sat on the floor. I tore off my pants. I was trying so hard to get them off that they ripped. I took off my sweatshirt. I threw my boxer shorts against the wall. I was naked. Comepletely naked. I sat on the rug. I sat in the middle of the floor. I could smell my own sweat from my folded places. I sat there. page 53: We sat. Now the silence wasn't very good. Her head was low. I could see the curve of her cheek against my brain waves, which were red and loopy.
Setting:
page 1- We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck. page 166- I flew up the maintube in Marty's community. It was a gated community and i waited to get out through the neighborhood's security sphincter.
Point of View: First Person: "The narrator is a character in the story who can reveal only personal thoughts and feelings and what he or she sees and is told by other characters. He can’t tell us thoughts of other characters."
page 43: The first thing I felt was no credit. I tried to touch my credit but there was nothing there. I felt like I was in a little room. My body- I was in a ed, on top of my arm, which was asleep but i didn't know where. I couldn't find the lunar GPS to tell me. Conflict: Man versus Society "The values and customs by which everyone else lives are being challenged. The character may come to an untimely end as a result of his or her own convictions. The character may, on the other hand, bring others around to a sympathetic point of view, or it may be decided that society was right after all."
page 297-298: I cried sitting by her bed, and I told her the story of us. "It's about the feed," I said. "It's about this meg normal guy, who doesn't think about anything until one wacky day, when he meets a dissident with a heart of gold." I said, "Set against the backdrop of America in its final fays, it's the high-spirited story of their love together, it's a laugh-out-loud funny, really heartwarming, and a visual feast." I picked up her hand and held it to my lips. I whispered to her fingers. "Together, the two crazy kids grow, have madcap escapades, and learn an important lesson about love. They learn to resist the feed."
Mood: page 298: I sat in her room, by her side, and she stared at the ceiling. I held her hand. On the screen, her heart was barely beating. I could see my face, crying in her blank eye.
Hyperbole: page166: It pulled open and i flew out into the droptube going like a million miles an hour so that Violet would jerk back in her seat. Then when I was going up, I had this idea that instead of like throwing her around by going too fast, I would be like quiet angry like my father got.
M T Anderson Matthew Tobin Anderson, commonly known as M.T. Anderson, was born in 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent his childhood. "I had what I think of as a good Transcendentalist New England upbringing," he said. "We lived on a street with nine houses, in this massive forest that had not been developed. It took 20 minutes to drive to my friends' houses, so I spent a lot of time alone, learning to imagine things in those woods." This upbringing has molded a large part of who he has become. Anderson is a very famous author now, but that wasn’t always the case. Jobs he had prior to becoming an author include burger flipping, being a department store cashier, and radio DJing. The schools he attended were Harvard and Cambridge Universities. At Harvard he majored in English literature. Inspiration for one of his most well known novels, Feed, came from his experience with tutoring kids in California. Anderson has said that his target audience for Feed was teenagers, for he believes that they are most easily influenced by the media and its pressures. One of his main messages to teens everywhere is that individuality is key, because teens are the future of our world. Possibly his biggest concern is that the world is gradually becoming more and more simple. What concerns him more is that people conform to it. When asked about Feed, Anderson stated, "I felt that I was always being cajoled, by this whole set of images, to be something that I fundamentally didn't want to be." Anderson's work in Feed made him a finalist for the National Book Award and a winner for L.A. Times Book Award for young adult fiction in 2003. Other than Feed, Anderson also wrote picture books, such as Handel Who Knew What He Liked, Strange Mr. Satie, and The Serpent Came to Gloucester. His young adult books include are The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing and Thirsty. The main themes of many of Anderson’s books are adventure, mystery, and humor.
M.T. Anderson has become well known for his literature mainly in young adult and childrens' books. He encourages younger generations to remain true to themselves and be who they are, because kids are the future. Anderson's individuality theme is frequently displayed throughout his work, especially in his well known novel, Feed.
We need a conclusion!!!!! But we will do that laterrr=) And this was also done by Aurora, i want her to have credit too!!!!!
M T Anderson Matthew Tobin Anderson doesn’t just come up with his novels in a matter of seconds, he actually has a ritual he does in order to come up with his ideas.
"I eat broccoli. I think about the plot. I pace in circles for hours, counter-clockwise, listening to music. I try to think of one detail in the scene I’m about to write that I'm really excited about writing. Until I can come up with that one detail, I pace. I put on another CD. I hum along. I get an idea. I prepare to begin. I shake out my fingers. I sit down. I type the first word. I erase it. I type in another first word, and consider the second word.
The phone rings. It's a friend calling to tell me a great story about running into her ex-stalker at Cinnabon. We talk for an hour and a half.
My time for writing is up. I go to bed. I feel guilty and miserable. Oh well. Better luck tomorrow."
This long thought process that Anderson goes through has really helped him be a successful author, and his award winning books help to prove this. Feed, one of his novels from 2002, was named a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner, and in that same year he was a finalist for the National Book Award. Then, in 2003 the following year, Feed was crowned a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book.
Matthew Tobin (M.T) Anderson: -author of picture books for children and novels for adults -books: Thirsty(1997), Burger Wuss(1999), and the Game of Sunken Places(2004) -born in 1968, Boston Massachusetts. -before he became a famous author, he was a burger flipper, department store cashier, and a radio DJ -majored in English literature at Harvard university and Cambridge university -Feed was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the L.A times book award for young adult fiction in 2003 -grew up outside of Boston, and currently lives in Cambridge Massachusetts -multiple award winning author for books for children and young adults -his themes for most of his books are adventure, humorous, mysteries or series
M.T. Anderson Picture Books Handel Who Knew What He Liked Strange Mr. Satie The Serpent Came to Gloucester Me, All Alone, at the End of the World Young Adult Books Thirsty Burger Wuss Feed The Game of the Sunken Places The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing For Middle School Readers M.T. Anderson’s Thrilling Tales, comprised of Whales on Stilts, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen, Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware
Partly inspired to write Feed from experience tutoring high school kids in California Targets teenagers, because they are especially vulnerable to the media Believes kids are the future, encourages individuality Fears the world becoming more and more simple and basic as more and more people conform to it
1) "I had what I think of as a good Transcendentalist New England upbringing," he said. "We lived on a street with nine houses, in this massive forest that had not been developed. It took 20 minutes to drive to my friends' houses, so I spent a lot of time alone, learning to imagine things in those woods." Mehegan, David. "Like his protagonists, meaning author M.T. Anderson is a character study - The Boston Globe." Boston.com. 19 Dec. 2006. 7 May 2009 <http://www.boston.com/ae/books
2) -"It's insulting to believe that teens should have a different kind of book than an adult should," says the author of "Feed" and, most recently, "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation." Teens like challenges, he says. They know the world is complicated, and "they can tell when a book is simplifying life."
-"I felt that I was always being cajoled, by this whole set of images, to be something that I fundamentally didn't want to be."- when talking about his inspiration for Feed. He always felt like there was all this pressure from the media to be something he didn’t necessarily believe in or agree with so that tension was a huge part of his inspiration for Feed.
Thompson, Bob. "Profile: Author M.T. Anderson Challenges Young Adults With Complex Narratives - washingtonpost.com." washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines. 29 Nov. 2008. 7 May 2009 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28
Many themes are presented in the text of Feed written by M.T. Anderson, and most of these themes relate to society and what’s happening to it these days, and that if it continues to go downhill like this, our future may end up like the society in this novel. One theme shown in this book, is that being educated is very important because if you do not have knowledge and something goes wrong, then you will not know what to do. Also, people shouldn’t change the way they look just to try and fit in, like getting plastic surgery, which relates to Quendy paying a lot of money to get lesions all over her body, because life shouldn’t just be about what you look like; you should accept yourself and be happy with the way you are. Another theme i think is presented in the text, is to be careful who you trust because you never know what people will do behind your back. In Feed, all of the teenagers are playing Spin The Bottle at a party, and even though he was currently going out with Calista, Quendy kisses Link and starts making out with him, which was stabbing Calista in the back, because Quendy and Link had previously gone out, but since Link had a new girlfriend, he was offlimits to Quendy and she totally broke the trust between her and Calista. Another theme presented in text of Feed, is that you shouldn't always wish you had what you don't have, because when you do have it, it may not seem so great; you should appreciate what you have and be thankful for it. This is shown in the book, because since everyone has a feed (information at their fingertips at all times), they don't learn to think for themselves, so they don't appreciate this free information. This leads to serious problems, because when something goes wrong with the feed, like it did for Violet, it will be no different than if you are dead because your brain will be dead and the only part of your body that will work are your basic bodily functions, like your organs functioning. Another theme that i got from this book, is that teenagers don't care about things as much as they should, so they should party less and learn more about the world more often. In MT Anderson's novel, all of the teenagers go to the moon to party, but they end up forgetting about the world around them because after a while, this is all they learn to know how to do. If this is how the world continued to stay, and if it was like this during the present day, corporations, businesses, and even schools would not be run nearly as well, and would not be run properly. Students may not even start showing up to class as this decrease in caring progressed. Also, technology is taking over the world, and it's not necessarily helping people out in the long run, because they rely on the information given to them instead of knowing it for themselves. Another theme presented in Feed, is that society is becoming more simple and basic, and accepting language and behavior that is innappropriate and not accepted these days, like how the teenagers in the book loved the song called "I'll Sex You In". This not only makes teenagers think about this type of behavior more than they should, but it also sets the example that it's okay to go out party, and have sex. Teens are more concerned with hanging out with friends then they are hanging out with family, and humans are destroying the world and everything's dying, like the ocean. The world as we know it is coming to an end in this science fiction novel. In this story, the theme shows that the focus is on partying and not on responsibility, and that teens don't have to do anything to contribute to society, which is not the case in our present society today. MT Anderson tended to present themes in his book that were opposite of how life should be lived, helping readers understand that if life was all fun and games, then living normally would no longer be possible, because you would not know how to live normally anymore because you would be used to the internet controlling you. Lastly, from this author's way of writing, readers will realize that going to school and being educated is a really important factor in pursuing life and living it to the fullest.
Dictionary of Challenging
Vocabulary: Feed
In the book Feed, by M.T. Anderson, many of the words used aren’t in the dictionary because they are a made up slang used by the characters. Other than this made up way of speaking, the vocabulary used isn’t very difficult. This new way of speaking, though, exists throughout the text and can make it difficult to understand at times. Because of the nature of the language used in this book, this dictionary includes difficult words that can be found in a dictionary, but also other words that are a part of this made up slang. Using context clues, the meaning of the words have been translated into modern day English.
- bonesprocket
(noun) a person who doesn’t actively participate in social activities and who’s mood, personality, or attitude discourages other people’s fun-synonym- party pooper, killjoy, wet blanket
-antonym- celebrator, life of the party
Ex. “And then they would be all big laughing and I felt like a complete bonesprocket for trying to sleep when there was fun.” (page 6)
- brag
(adjective) great, good, excellent, awesome-synonym- pleasing, super, stupendous, superb
-antonym- bad, unpleasant
Ex. “It was brag because she didn’t have a ride, and I could borrow my parents’ upcar, so I got to fly over and pick her up.” (page 78)
- fugue
(noun or adjective) straying away from moderation, excess-synonym- going into overload, overabundance
-antonym- moderate
Ex. “When we got off the ship our feeds were going fugue with all the banners.” (page 8)
- limp
(adjective) something that is socially unacceptable-synonym- pitiful, pathetic, inexcusable
-antonym- cool, acceptable
Ex. “I think it’s always really limp, when guys can’t talk to girls they went out with.” (page 12)
- mal
(noun) slang for malfunction; failure to function properly-synonym- breakdown, mechanical flaw, problem
-antonym- perfection, working, no problems
Ex. “I didn’t want to be sleepy and like all stupid, but I had been drinking pretty hard the night before and had been in mal and I was feeling kind of like shit.” (page 6)
- meg
(adjective) in a high degree-synonym- exceedingly, very, really
-antonym- little, mildly, moderately
Ex. “That’s great. I think she’s meg nice.” (page 83)
“Like big thanks to everyone for telling me that my lesion is like meg completely spreading.” (page 21)
- null
(adjective) drowsy, overcome by tiredness-synonym- dull, sluggish, drowsy, lethargic
-antonym- animated, awake, energetic
Ex. “…. And when we’re going hard I get real sleepy real easy, and I didn’t want to be null for the unettes on the moon, at the hotel, if any of them were youch.” (page 5)
- skip
(adjective) entirely without any flaws or shortcomings-synonym- ideal, great, amazing, perfect
-antonym- imperfect, flawed,inferior
Ex. “It was the beginning of a great day, one of the greatest days of my life…. Everyone was smiling and it was skip.” (page 57)
- smarm
(adjective) without the expression of actual emotion; disingenuous-synonym- insincere, fake, false, untruthful
-antonym- honest, sincere, forthright, genuine
Ex. “I kept thinking of nice things I could say, like, “I’m glad you went out last night, because that’s how I met you,” or, “And I think you are a normal person,” but they all seemed just smarm.
10. youch
(adjective) visually pleasing or attractive; good looking
-synonym- stunning, sexy, gorgeous
-antonym- ugly, unappealing
Ex. “…. And when we’re going hard I get real sleepy real easy, and I didn’t want to be null for the unettes on the moon, at the hotel, if any of them were youch.” (page 5)
Background Information about the Setting and Concepts Presented in the Text
M.T. Anderson’s book, Feed, is set in the future, although it never specifies how far into the future it is. In this future world that he has created, Anderson demonstrates how people have advanced significantly in the field of technology, but also how they may have gotten too advanced for their own good.
Where in today’s society, we own cars and drive on roads, in Titus’ society, they own “upcars,” which are basically flying cars that are flown through tubes. Instead of going by the natural weather and rising and setting of the sun like we do, this future generation makes their own weather. Individual houses or entire neighborhoods are enclosed in huge bubbles, and the people control the “sunlight” and when it rains. So, when it is time for Titus’ family to go to bed, his parents “turn out the sun.” Teenagers today typically go to the park or the mall to have fun, but Titus and his friends flew to the moon to have fun when they were bored. The moon is like another city in this world, because there are restaurants, hotels, and clubs with artificial gravity, so people can hang out there without floating away. Books, magazines, and words in general are not common at all in Titus’ world. In today’s world, we raise animals for meat. In the time period of Feed, they directly grow meat. For example, Titus and Violet visited a filet mignon farm, where the meat stretches for miles with blood being pumped to it. The relationship between parents and children has also seemed to change in Feed. Titus’ father calls him “dude,” and kids seem to be less obligated to show politeness to their parents.
A main piece of the novel, Feed, is the actual Feed device. It is a chip that is implanted directly into peoples’ brains shortly after birth. Thinking about something like that today is a scary thought, but in the text, everyone has it and whoever doesn’t, wants it. The Feed is a person’s access to everything. It is like an interactive computer in your brain. Whatever you think about: a car, a new shirt, the latest music, it tells you how to get it. You can shop online using just your brain, chat with people without saying anything, send voice messages, watch TV or movies, and even share memories that you’ve stored. The Feed also gives people updates on the very latest trends, right as they become popular.
One of the concepts M.T. Anderson appears to be trying to get across is the fact that, because of human activity, the world is dying. People in the book have started developing lesions on their skin, losing hair, and towards the end, even stopping dead in their tracks uncontrollably. The oceans have become so polluted that, to go there, Titus and Violet had to wear suits and whales are “laminated” so that they can live there. The ocean reflects with the colors like spilled gasoline in a parking lot. Anderson tells us this message that the world is coming to an end most clearly through Violet: “Do you know why the Global Alliance is pointing all the weaponry disposal at us? No. Hardly anyone does. Do you know why our skin is falling off? Have you heard that some suburbs have been lost, just, no one knows where they are anymore? No one can find them? No one knows what’s happened? Do you know the earth is dead? Almost nothing lives here anymore, except where we plant it? No. No, no, no. We don’t know any of that. We have tea parties with our teddies. We go sledding. We enjoy being young. We take what’s coming to us. That’s our way.” In Feed, Violet and her father are the only characters that really understand what is happening to the world and care. Titus and his friends are the average teenagers who don’t really see what’s happening, or just don’t really care. One of the concepts demonstrated in the text was this idea that, generally, teens tend to look just at their world, and if everything works for them, the world is fine. Anderson seems to want to tell young adults to open their eyes and realize that there is more to the world than their piece of it.
I don't really know if this is how i should present this, I was thinking maybe if I could make a drawing of like a house with the whole bubble thing around it and tubes coming out of it with an upcar or somehting?
Hey! Okayy, so here's an idea that me and aurora had thought of... as we work on our own individual parts of the project, we should post them up here. And then, we can like peer edit sortaa. So as we post stuff up, we all can read eachothers stuff and edit using red. So for example if i wrote whats below everyone can go thru and edit what they think using red, just dont delete any of the persons original writing!!! Heres an example...
"My favorite color is green. I like it because it reminds me of nature, and (and not needed) grass, and trees, which I love. Green makes me feel relaxed and at ease with what is around me.I like red. Red is nice too. (Red is a favorite color of mine as well.) It reminds me of fire and heat. It is an intense color. It makes me think of love."
So that is just an example. My thought behind this tho was that maybe if everything is already edited before it is due, when we go to put the binder together for the final project, it will go much quicker since we already know that what was written we all approve of it. So yeaa if you have any more thoughts just post 'em up!!!
Editing- red!!!
Aurora- purple!!!
Linnea- teal!!!
Sami- hot pink!!!
Vicky- green!!!
Heyy!!! so I had some ideas for discussions and some question sort of things if we happpen to have time in class....
1) What are some current "issues" that are in our society today that are also present in the book?
I think some current issues in our society that are brought up in the book is how technology is kind of "taking over." Everything pretty much depends on technology for teenagers. Another issue is how the teenagers don't seem to care much about anything in the book, and this might be a problem in our society too. Some kids don't care about school and just want to hangout and party instead. This is becoming an increasing thing for kids now, and it affects how they do in their future. The book may be some sort of "fictional future" that the author is saying probably won't end up happening but could end up happening based on events going on today. This is just what i got out of the book, and how it could relate to real life issues.
Some current issues that are in our society today that are also present in the book, are how kids go out and party like they do today, but in this book, because it takes place in the future, it just becomes more daily. The teenagers rely on technology and on having fun all the time, and they get used to not doing much of anything, which seems to be a problem in our society sometimes. Doing things for yourself is becoming less common like it is in the book.
I think one of the ideas the author was trying to emphasize was the idea that society is starting to become more and more accepting of language and behavior that was once considered inappropriate, (like the music we listen to today that our parents are shocked by). It also seems like the kids in the book are less close with their families and more into hanging out with their friends. That seems to concern some parents today as well.
2) Do you think that the author was realistic about the book or do you think he was too pessimistic?
I think that the author was being realistic about the book even though he made it a little more pessimistic then he had to; M.T. Anderson exaggerated a little in the book, but it was just to clearly show the issues that were present in this book. In Feed, teenagers didn't really have any education, they went out to party a lot, and they didn't think for themselves, because they had the "feed" (information at their fingertips) right at their reach, so they didn't need to know how to think. This relates to present day issues because teenagers tend to be more lazy then they should, and they don't really think for themselves as much as they should. The internet is a big part of teen's lives, which is like the "feed", so M.T. Anderson just exaggerated this issue a little bit so it would stick out more in readers minds so they can comprehend what he is trying to say to readers. He writes in a way that'll hopefully make the world want to think for themselves, and be educated, and not have to always rely on the internet or "feeds" for everything.
3) What connections can be made between life today and this book? Bczz I was thinking that maybe we include some of these real life connections in our presentations... it might make it more interesting for the class to listen to then
alsooo maybe we could have some sort of interactive portion involved in our presentation, just to keep the audience ingaged and not totally bored to death... idkk just an idea, post up any thoughts you might have tho, especiallly about the presentation...
Maybe for the presentation..since we found one video that's about 6 minutes long, maybe we could find some sort of video that isn't necassarily about the book, but can be connected to it? Just to use some extra time that we might need and to make it more interesting.. Because i looked for another short video and only found a few "book trailers" that weren't very intresting. So idk it was just a thought if we couldn't use anything else..
If we do like a brief summary before the video and then show the video (so they aren't so confused by it), it'll use up more time. We could always explain each piece of the project and that would probably use up the rest of the time. If it doesn't though, we can write down a few of those short clips or something so that we have a backup plan to use the extra time.
Literary elements:
Metaphors:
page 62- "It's like..," I said. "It's like a squid in the love with the sky"
page 63- "I felt her spine too, each knuckle of it, with my fingers, while the air leaked and the plants whacked each other near the silent stars.
Similies:
page 70- "It came down on us like water. It came down like spring rains and we were dancing in it."
Imagery:
page 221- Quendy nodded. She still had lesions all over her. When she moved her head, I could see a lesion on her neck open and close like a fish mouth singing a country song.
page 293- I sat on the floor. I tore off my pants. I was trying so hard to get them off that they ripped. I took off my sweatshirt. I threw my boxer shorts against the wall. I was naked. Comepletely naked. I sat on the rug. I sat in the middle of the floor. I could smell my own sweat from my folded places. I sat there.
page 53: We sat. Now the silence wasn't very good. Her head was low. I could see the curve of her cheek against my brain waves, which were red and loopy.
Setting:
page 1- We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.
page 166- I flew up the maintube in Marty's community. It was a gated community and i waited to get out through the neighborhood's security sphincter.
Point of View:
First Person:
"The narrator is a character in the story who can reveal only personal thoughts and feelings and what he or she sees and is told by other characters. He can’t tell us thoughts of other characters."
page 43: The first thing I felt was no credit. I tried to touch my credit but there was nothing there. I felt like I was in a little room. My body- I was in a ed, on top of my arm, which was asleep but i didn't know where. I couldn't find the lunar GPS to tell me.
Conflict:
Man versus Society
"The values and customs by which everyone else lives are being challenged. The character may come to an untimely end as a result of his or her own convictions. The character may, on the other hand, bring others around to a sympathetic point of view, or it may be decided that society was right after all."
page 297-298: I cried sitting by her bed, and I told her the story of us. "It's about the feed," I said. "It's about this meg normal guy, who doesn't think about anything until one wacky day, when he meets a dissident with a heart of gold." I said, "Set against the backdrop of America in its final fays, it's the high-spirited story of their love together, it's a laugh-out-loud funny, really heartwarming, and a visual feast." I picked up her hand and held it to my lips. I whispered to her fingers. "Together, the two crazy kids grow, have madcap escapades, and learn an important lesson about love. They learn to resist the feed."
Mood:
page 298: I sat in her room, by her side, and she stared at the ceiling. I held her hand. On the screen, her heart was barely beating. I could see my face, crying in her blank eye.
Hyperbole:
page166: It pulled open and i flew out into the droptube going like a million miles an hour so that Violet would jerk back in her seat. Then when I was going up, I had this idea that instead of like throwing her around by going too fast, I would be like quiet angry like my father got.
M T Anderson
Matthew Tobin Anderson, commonly known as M.T. Anderson, was born in 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent his childhood. "I had what I think of as a good Transcendentalist New England upbringing," he said. "We lived on a street with nine houses, in this massive forest that had not been developed. It took 20 minutes to drive to my friends' houses, so I spent a lot of time alone, learning to imagine things in those woods." This upbringing has molded a large part of who he has become. Anderson is a very famous author now, but that wasn’t always the case. Jobs he had prior to becoming an author include burger flipping, being a department store cashier, and radio DJing. The schools he attended were Harvard and Cambridge Universities. At Harvard he majored in English literature.
Inspiration for one of his most well known novels, Feed, came from his experience with tutoring kids in California. Anderson has said that his target audience for Feed was teenagers, for he believes that they are most easily influenced by the media and its pressures. One of his main messages to teens everywhere is that individuality is key, because teens are the future of our world. Possibly his biggest concern is that the world is gradually becoming more and more simple. What concerns him more is that people conform to it. When asked about Feed, Anderson stated, "I felt that I was always being cajoled, by this whole set of images, to be something that I fundamentally didn't want to be." Anderson's work in Feed made him a finalist for the National Book Award and a winner for L.A. Times Book Award for young adult fiction in 2003.
Other than Feed, Anderson also wrote picture books, such as Handel Who Knew What He Liked, Strange Mr. Satie, and The Serpent Came to Gloucester. His young adult books include are The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing and Thirsty. The main themes of many of Anderson’s books are adventure, mystery, and humor.
M.T. Anderson has become well known for his literature mainly in young adult and childrens' books. He encourages younger generations to remain true to themselves and be who they are, because kids are the future. Anderson's individuality theme is frequently displayed throughout his work, especially in his well known novel, Feed.
We need a conclusion!!!!! But we will do that laterrr=) And this was also done by Aurora, i want her to have credit too!!!!!
M T Anderson
Matthew Tobin Anderson doesn’t just come up with his novels in a matter of seconds, he actually has a ritual he does in order to come up with his ideas.
"I eat broccoli. I think about the plot. I pace in circles for hours, counter-clockwise, listening to music. I try to think of one detail in the scene I’m about to write that I'm really excited about writing. Until I can come up with that one detail, I pace. I put on another CD. I hum along. I get an idea. I prepare to begin. I shake out my fingers. I sit down. I type the first word. I erase it. I type in another first word, and consider the second word.
The phone rings. It's a friend calling to tell me a great story about running into her ex-stalker at Cinnabon. We talk for an hour and a half.
My time for writing is up. I go to bed. I feel guilty and miserable. Oh well. Better luck tomorrow."
This long thought process that Anderson goes through has really helped him be a successful author, and his award winning books help to prove this. Feed, one of his novels from 2002, was named a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner, and in that same year he was a finalist for the National Book Award. Then, in 2003 the following year, Feed was crowned a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book.
Matthew Tobin (M.T) Anderson:
-author of picture books for children and novels for adults
-books: Thirsty(1997), Burger Wuss(1999), and the Game of Sunken Places(2004)
-born in 1968, Boston Massachusetts.
-before he became a famous author, he was a burger flipper, department store cashier, and a radio DJ
-majored in English literature at Harvard university and Cambridge university
-Feed was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the L.A times book award for young adult fiction in 2003
-grew up outside of Boston, and currently lives in Cambridge Massachusetts
-multiple award winning author for books for children and young adults
-his themes for most of his books are adventure, humorous, mysteries or series
M.T. Anderson
Picture Books
Handel Who Knew What He Liked
Strange Mr. Satie
The Serpent Came to Gloucester
Me, All Alone, at the End of the World
Young Adult Books
Thirsty
Burger Wuss
Feed
The Game of the Sunken Places
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
For Middle School Readers
M.T. Anderson’s Thrilling Tales, comprised of Whales on Stilts, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen, Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware
Partly inspired to write Feed from experience tutoring high school kids in California
Targets teenagers, because they are especially vulnerable to the media
Believes kids are the future, encourages individuality
Fears the world becoming more and more simple and basic as more and more people conform to it
1) "I had what I think of as a good Transcendentalist New England upbringing," he said. "We lived on a street with nine houses, in this massive forest that had not been developed. It took 20 minutes to drive to my friends' houses, so I spent a lot of time alone, learning to imagine things in those woods."
Mehegan, David. "Like his protagonists, meaning author M.T. Anderson is a character study - The Boston Globe." Boston.com. 19 Dec. 2006. 7 May 2009 <http://www.boston.com/ae/books
2) -"It's insulting to believe that teens should have a different kind of book than an adult should," says the author of "Feed" and, most recently, "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation." Teens like challenges, he says. They know the world is complicated, and "they can tell when a book is simplifying life."
-"I felt that I was always being cajoled, by this whole set of images, to be something that I fundamentally didn't want to be."- when talking about his inspiration for Feed. He always felt like there was all this pressure from the media to be something he didn’t necessarily believe in or agree with so that tension was a huge part of his inspiration for Feed.
Work cited:
" M T Anderson | Scholastic.com." Teaching Resources, Children's Book Recommendations, and Student Activities | Scholastic.com. 7 May 2009 <http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=2882>.
"M T Anderson." Fantastic Fiction. 7 May 2009
<http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/m-t-anderson/>.
"M.T. Anderson - National Book Festival (Library of Congress)." Library of
Congress Home. 7 May 2009
<http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/toolkit/authors/bio_mtanderson.html>.
Kramer, Melody Joy. "M.T. Anderson: Eats Broccoli, Paces and Hums : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts. 7 May 2009 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6525913>.
“Matthew Tobin Anderson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 7 May 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Tobin_Anderson#Bibliography>.
Thompson, Bob. "Profile: Author M.T. Anderson Challenges Young Adults With Complex Narratives - washingtonpost.com." washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines. 29 Nov. 2008. 7 May 2009 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28
"Candlewick Press - Welcome." Candlewick Press - Welcome. 7 May 2009 http://www.candlewick.com/.
"Feed (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 22 Apr. 2009. 7 May 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_(novel).
Themes presented in the text
Many themes are presented in the text of Feed written by M.T. Anderson, and most of these themes relate to society and what’s happening to it these days, and that if it continues to go downhill like this, our future may end up like the society in this novel. One theme shown in this book, is that being educated is very important because if you do not have knowledge and something goes wrong, then you will not know what to do. Also, people shouldn’t change the way they look just to try and fit in, like getting plastic surgery, which relates to Quendy paying a lot of money to get lesions all over her body, because life shouldn’t just be about what you look like; you should accept yourself and be happy with the way you are. Another theme i think is presented in the text, is to be careful who you trust because you never know what people will do behind your back. In Feed, all of the teenagers are playing Spin The Bottle at a party, and even though he was currently going out with Calista, Quendy kisses Link and starts making out with him, which was stabbing Calista in the back, because Quendy and Link had previously gone out, but since Link had a new girlfriend, he was offlimits to Quendy and she totally broke the trust between her and Calista. Another theme presented in text of Feed, is that you shouldn't always wish you had what you don't have, because when you do have it, it may not seem so great; you should appreciate what you have and be thankful for it. This is shown in the book, because since everyone has a feed (information at their fingertips at all times), they don't learn to think for themselves, so they don't appreciate this free information. This leads to serious problems, because when something goes wrong with the feed, like it did for Violet, it will be no different than if you are dead because your brain will be dead and the only part of your body that will work are your basic bodily functions, like your organs functioning. Another theme that i got from this book, is that teenagers don't care about things as much as they should, so they should party less and learn more about the world more often. In MT Anderson's novel, all of the teenagers go to the moon to party, but they end up forgetting about the world around them because after a while, this is all they learn to know how to do. If this is how the world continued to stay, and if it was like this during the present day, corporations, businesses, and even schools would not be run nearly as well, and would not be run properly. Students may not even start showing up to class as this decrease in caring progressed. Also, technology is taking over the world, and it's not necessarily helping people out in the long run, because they rely on the information given to them instead of knowing it for themselves. Another theme presented in Feed, is that society is becoming more simple and basic, and accepting language and behavior that is innappropriate and not accepted these days, like how the teenagers in the book loved the song called "I'll Sex You In". This not only makes teenagers think about this type of behavior more than they should, but it also sets the example that it's okay to go out party, and have sex. Teens are more concerned with hanging out with friends then they are hanging out with family, and humans are destroying the world and everything's dying, like the ocean. The world as we know it is coming to an end in this science fiction novel. In this story, the theme shows that the focus is on partying and not on responsibility, and that teens don't have to do anything to contribute to society, which is not the case in our present society today. MT Anderson tended to present themes in his book that were opposite of how life should be lived, helping readers understand that if life was all fun and games, then living normally would no longer be possible, because you would not know how to live normally anymore because you would be used to the internet controlling you. Lastly, from this author's way of writing, readers will realize that going to school and being educated is a really important factor in pursuing life and living it to the fullest.